Machine for operating on webs of material



"Aug. 11, 1925. 1,549,266

B. B. KENDIG MACHINE FOR OPERATING 0N WEBS 0F MATERIAL Filed Sept. 14. 1923 \w Y lmlllllllllll WITNESS l/Vl/E/VTOH .Bf/VfO/l/ 5. Kan/ma Win/0mm.

A 7TORNEYS Patented Aug. 11, 19 25.

UNITED STATES 1,549,266 PATENT OFFICE.

BENTON B. KENDIG, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR TO THE FARGO CORPORA- TION, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

MACHINE FOR OPERATING N WEBS OF,MATERIAL.

, Application filed September 14, 1923. Serial No. 662,653.

citizen of the United States, and resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Operating on Webs of Material, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines in which a travelling web of material is progressively acted upon 'by a device or devices as it is fed through the machine. As examples of such a machine may be mentioned apunching machine in which one or more plungers serve to punch the web either for the purpose of perforating the same or for providing discs of material useful for various purposes or a stamping or printing machine in which predetermined subject matter, in the form of a design or printed matter, is repeatedly reproduced upon the surface of said web. lln machines of the indicated or equivalent character the travel of the entire web'of material is periodically arrested in harmony with the operation of said device or devices so that the feed of said web is intermittent. The constant starting and stop page of the feeding means required in such machines results in excessive wear upon the parts thus reducing the operative life of the machine. At the same time, even though the individual intervals between successive stoppings and startings may be small the sum of all of them in a given working period represents a considerable loss of time, so that the output of such machines is decreased.

The object of the present invention is to overcome the objections and disadvantages recited and to rovide a simple-and efficient machine in which the operation of the feeding mechanism for feeding the web may be continuous and uninterrupted without inter- 'ference with the intended action of the device or devices upon said web. Other more specific objects will appear from the description hereinafter.

In the acompanying drawings, which show diagrammatically an example ofthe invention without defining its limits, Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side view with the parts in one position; Fig. 2 is a similar view with the parts in another position; Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic front elevation and Fig. 4 is a detail section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1.

For the purpose of illustrating and deof material,

scribing theinvention, and with no intent to define the limits thereof, I have shown in the drawings a machine in which discs of material are punched from a-travelling Web said discs being of the type, for instance such as are used for closmg and sealing bottles of milk.

The machine is diagrammatically illustrated and includes a frame 10 in which feed rollers 11 and 12 are journalled in any suitable and conventional manner, said rollers belng geared together by means of gears 13 or being otherwise operatively connected in anywell known way, to serve as feeding mechanism for a, web of material 14. The machine further includes devices movable 111 a direction intersecting the path of travel of the web 14 and operated in a manner to engage the latter periodically. In the illustrated example these devices comprise a plurahtypf punches or plungers 15 adapted to be reclprocated by means of cranks 16 on a crank-shaft 17, said cranks being connected wlth the plungers or punches by means of links 18. The crank-shaft 17 may be me chanicaly driven in any convenient manner and may transmit its motion b means of a sprocket 19 and a sprocket c ain 20 to a sprocket 21 located, for instance, upon the shaft of the feed roller 12 and thereby driving the feeding mechanism. It will be understood that, if desired, the feed rollers 11 and 12 may be mechanically driven in any convenient manner and caused to transmit motion to the crank-shaft 17 by means of the sprockets 21 and 19 and the sprocket chain 20.

The plungers or punches 15 are movable in guides 22 located in spaced registry with a punching die 23 together with said guide 22 and die 23, and are located at a distance from the feed rollers 11 and 12 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Guiding means in the form of guides 24 extend between the rollers 11 and 12 and the punching die 23 and in addi-' tion to forming a rigid bed for the travelling web serve to guide the web 14 from the feeding mechanism to the plungers 15 or their equivalent; in the preferred construction the arrangement is such that the plungers 15, guide 22 and punching die 23, are located at a distance from and below the feeding mechanism, the guides 24 being curved in the arc of a circle as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 and leading from the feeding mechanism to the unching devices. Coil springs 25 are asociated with the guides 24 and constitute a means whereby continuous operation of the feeding mechanism, as exemplified by the rolls-11 and 12 to feed the web 14, is possible and in addition serve to positively return the web to the bed exemplified by said guides' These springs 25 n the illustrated example extend len thwise of the guides 24 in contiguous relation to the upper surfaces thereof and have their opposite ends suitably secured at 26 to said guides 24 as shown in the drawings; it will be un- 1 derstood that these springs 25 are intended to be representative of equivalent means whereby the results hereinafter set forth may be attained and that the relation thereof to the guides may be different than illustrated.

In operation the feed rollers 11 and 12 which constitute the feeding mechanism cause the web 14 to travel along the guides 24 and finally between the guide 22 and the punching guide 23 as shown in Figs. 1 and 2; at the same time the plungers or punches 15 are movable or more specifically are reciprocated in directions which intersect the path of travel of said web and accordingl periodically engage the latter to punc therefrom the aforementioned discs of material. As the web 14 is thus engaged by the plungers 15 the feed of said web at the point of engagement will be temporarily arrested during the time of such engagement, that is, in the specific example illustrated, during the punching and retracting movements of said plungers. As this temporary stoppage of the web at such points of engagement by the plungers 15 takes place, the web 14 will temporarily leave its normal path of travel along the guides 24 or, in other words, will buckle away from said guides in the manner indicated diagrammatically in Fig. 2; this buckling of the web will be yieldingly resisted by the springs 25 or will be permitted in another manner by equivalent means. In any case the moment the plungers 15 are no longer in engagement with the web 14, the latter will, by the action of the springs 25, be positively and immediately returned back to the guides 24 or, in other words, back to its normal path of travel and consequently said web will be advanced between the guide 22 and punching guide 23 a sufiicient distance to bring a new portion of said web into registry with the punches 15 whereupon the described operations are repeated. With this arrangemnet the operation of the feeding mechanism to feed the web 14 may proceed without interruption so that the feed of the web at points to the rear of the plungers 15 or their equivalent is continuously carried on without interruption. The feeding of the web is predetermined in such a way that the web 14 will move out of its normal path of travel or buckle away from the guides 24 to an extent just suflicient to bring the desired new portion of said web into registry with the punches. 15, in the-present case, for the urpose of avoiding as much waste as possi 1e. This is accomplished by constructing and operating the punches 15 or their e uivalent and the feeding mechanism in pre etermined ratio. In the illustrated example the diameter of the feed rollers is determined by the ratio of the number of teeth on the sprockets 19 and 21. For instance, in the present case, if it is assumed that blanks or discs one and one-half inches in diameter are desired with a space between the blanks of .040 inch and the ratio between the sprockets 21 and 19 is four to one, then the feed rollers would have a circumference of four times one and one-half inches plus four times .040 inch or 6.160 inches. "This arrangement of the mechanism is predetermined by the t pe of treatment the web is to receive and t 1e devices whereby the same is performed.

"he springs 25 or their equivalent serve to maintain the web 14 in a uniform travelling position until the punches 15 or their e uivalent become operative upon said web w iereupon, as previously,set forth, the web, at the point of engagement is stopped. The feeding action of the rollers 11 and 12 on said web, however, keeps right on, said springs serving to take up the surplus or, in other words, to permit the web to buckle as shown in Fig. 2.

The machine is extremely simple in operation and serves to permit an uninterrupted feeding action upon the web-of material, thus avoiding the necessity for periodically stopping such feed in order to permit the punches 15 or e u'valent devices to operate upon such Willis. It will be understood that the punches 15 are intended to represent any type of a device whereby the web is operated upon and which have a movement in a direction intersecting the path of travel of said web. Thus said punches may be replaced by stamping dies or printing members whereby the surface of the web is embellished or ornamented or whereby the same is rinted. Obviously many other types of evices may also be substituted, it being understood that the invention is useful in any machine which feeds a travelling web of material and in which it is desirable to provide an uninterrupted action in the feeding mechanism upon said web of material.

Various changes in the specific form shown and described may be made within the scope of the claims without departing from the spirit of my invention.

I claim:

1. The combination of feeding mechanism travel as soon as disengagement between said device and web takes place.

'2. The combination'of feeding mechanism for feeding a web of material, a device reciprocable in directions which intersect the path of travel of said web and adapted to periodically engage the same, the feed of the web at the point of engagement being temporarily arrested at the time engagement takes place, rigid guides for guiding the web from the feeding mechanism to said device and means associated with said guides for permitting the web to place whereby the operation of said feeding mechanism to feed the web is continuous and uninterrupted.

3. Thecombination of feeding mechanism for feeding a web of material, a device reciprocable in directions which intersect the path of travel of said web andadapted to periodically engage the same, the feed of the web at the point of engagement being temporarily arrested at the time engagement takes place, guides for guiding the web from the feeding mechanism to said device, and coil springs associated with said guides, for permitting the web to buckle away there from during such temporary stoppage and for returning the web thereto whereby the operation of said feeding mechanism to feed the web is continuous and uninterrupted.

4. The combination of feeding mechanism for feeding a web of material, a device reciprocable in directions which intersect the path of travel of said web and adapted guides for permitting to .periodically engage the same, the feed of the web at the point of engagement being temporarily arrested at the time engagement takes place, curved guides for guiding the web from the feeding mechanism to said device and coil springs associated with said the web to buckle away therefrom during such temporary stoppage and for returning the web thereto whereby the operation of said feeding mechanism to feed the web is continuous and uninterrupted.

5. The combination of feeding mechanism for feeding a web of material, a plunger reciprocable in directions which intersect the path of travel of saidweb, and ada ted to periodically engage thesame, the fee of the Web at the point of engagement being tern-- porarily arrested at the time engagement takes place, rigid guiding means for guiding the web from the feeding mechanism to said plunger and forming a rigid bed over which said web travels and yielding means associated with the guiding means for permitting the web to buckle away therefrom during such temporary stoppage and for positively returning the web to said guiding means as soon as the plunger is withdrawn from the path of said web whereby the operation of the feeding mechanism to feed the web is continuous and uninterrupted.

6. The combination of feeding mechanism for feeding a web of material, a plurality of punching members reciprocable in directions which intersect the path of travel of said web and arran ed to periodically punch a plurality of (llSCS therefrom, the feed of the web in the region of the unching being temporarily arrested at the time punching takes place, curved guides for guiding the web from the feeding mechanism to said punching members and coil springs associated with said guides for permittingthe web to buckle away therefrom during such temporary stoppage and for returning the web thereto whereby the opera-c ti'on of said feeding mechanism to feed the v web is continuous and uninterrupted.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set In hand.

y BENTON B. KENDIG. 

